Woods says family atmosphere brought him to Clemson, happy for 'big brothers' on D-line

Clemson fall camp is set to start next week and Peter Woods says he's happy to compete with his big brothers.

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Fri Jul 28 07:00:17 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON - The family atmosphere at Clemson had a strong effect on star freshman defender Peter Woods, as well as how the coaching staff interacts with the players.

“Just the family atmosphere was probably the initial (draw),” Woods said at the Dear Old Clemson NIL event recently. “I just started kind of seeing how coaches treated players and different things, and it was just something I felt like an environment where I can go as a man and the three or four years that I’m here, then I’m out, and I’ll be a better man because of being here.”

Of course, chemistry is also a major part of how a team functions. Commonly this is talked about with quarterbacks and wide receivers, but cohesion is important on all sides of the ball. As Woods explains, this recruiting class is tight-knit and started developing that bond well before they came to Clemson.

“As soon as we start coming in, we had a little group chat and stuff, and I’d say it’s about two years to a year running now,” Woods said. “We’ve had long-lasting relationships through recruiting, and we just jell really well.”

Being a great player in high school does not necessarily mean it will transfer to college, usually for one large reason: the speed of the game changes. The players are faster, more talented and more driven than ever to perform. Even though it is cliche, according to this five-star athlete, that is what he believes is his biggest challenge right now.

“You’re going against guys that are just as good as you or even better. So just the speed of the game is going to be crazy and just the competition, you know what I’m saying? You’re always working to keep getting better,” Woods said. “There’s no playing down to the competition because you’re always up there. You’re at a high level.”

Part of what made Woods such a highly sought-after recruit is his versatility. He can play on the edge or as an interior defender and showed plenty of talent in high school in being able to read plays, be a run stopper and get to the quarterback. In fact, he had a total of 29.5 sacks during his high school career and averaged 5.8 tackles per game.

“I love my versatility … That’s something that I pride myself in. I feel like I can play any position across the line, so why not do it?” Woods said. “Given this talent that we have in (the defensive tackle) room, it might be convenient; it might not be, just depending on how I perform in the fall and just how everything goes. But I’m excited to see how it goes.”

Many people were surprised when defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro decided to stay for a fifth season. However, that is something Woods is incredibly thankful for. Orhorhoro and fellow fifth-year defensive tackle Tyler Davis have been helping Woods greatly during practice so far and have really stepped up as mentors for the young players.

“I can’t even say how much I’ve learned from them -- just their effort just to bring me along. Just being the young guy and coming in and bringing me along and just teach me the things that, even they may have learned later in their careers,” Woods said. “Just speaks so much to their humility. I see them as my big brothers, and I just appreciate them.”